


26 Reasons Why

by Miranthia



Series: Project Apocalypse [8]
Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Garmen, Multi, Project Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 19:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 3,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13107051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranthia/pseuds/Miranthia
Summary: The end of the world wasn't so bad.





	1. Attitude

It always surprised her at how well the younger woman was able to keep it together. She would often talk about home, or gush about all of the little animals they would come across on their journey north. If she was ever down, it was never for long. She was able to take the heat, as well as dish it back out; a testament to how well the girl got along with Tod. They were like long-lost siblings, the way they bickered and went at each other one minute, then laughed and teased each other the next.

The first time she dispatched a zombie by herself, was definitely not expected. As soft as she was, it was almost a guarantee that she would break down. But she didn’t. She took it down with little struggle, and went along her way like she was picking daisies. Maybe it was due to the fact she herself had been in danger, causing the blonde to jump to action. Whatever the case, if the blonde was bothered she hid it well.

Carmen was definitely intrigued by Jovie Griffon.


	2. Bravery

She had no idea what the hell she was doing. She grew up on a farm, in the middle of nowhere, literally in the middle of the fucking country! She was always surrounded by family, but lo-and-behold she decided to go to college in a COMPLETELY different state, so when the world shot to shit she had no one.

At all.

Because lord knew if Vi was alive or not.

So when she’s running willy-nilly through town, laughing and crying simultaneously at the situation, she finds herself between a rock and a hard place. Literally. Though the rock she chucks misses her intended target, it did wind up hitting someone, and that’s when she came into the picture.

She took the things down with deadly accuracy bordering on glee, and fortunately let the misbegotten blonde tag along. The woman strode on through the chaos like it was something she did for a living.

In that moment, Griff may have fallen in love with Carmen Adela, just a little.


	3. Children

They had never really talked about it. There was no need to, and who in their right mind would want to try and raise a child in this crazy fucked-up world? Not that it wasn’t crazy to begin with.

But when the four of them stumble upon a little boy and girl, both of them half-starved and exhausted, it was an unspoken agreement.

Carmen and Griff became parents that day, Tod acting as the crazy-ass uncle that would alternately spoil and corrupt your kids while giving good advice in the process, and Vi as the doting auntie.

They were a strange little family, but they probably wouldn’t have had it any other way.


	4. Determination

They had never really talked about it. There was no need to, and who in their right mind would want to try and raise a child in this crazy fucked-up world? Not that it wasn’t crazy to begin with.

But when the four of them stumble upon a little boy and girl, both of them half-starved and exhausted, it was an unspoken agreement.

Carmen and Griff became parents that day, Tod acting as the crazy-ass uncle that would alternately spoil and corrupt your kids while giving good advice in the process, and Vi as the doting auntie.

They were a strange little family, but they probably wouldn’t have had it any other way.


	5. Enthralling

From time to time, she caught herself looking.

Not just looking; blatantly and openly gawking at the older woman.

Which wasn’t that unheard of. She was always throwing sultry gazes or comical faces at the three of them, because that’s just who she was. She loved batting her eyelashes at Vi and messing around with her, because they had been roommates in college and were close, she knew she could get away with it. Tod she loved to make faces at while he wasn’t looking, just because she could and she knew he did the same thing to her when she wasn’t looking.

But with Carmen it was different.

Every little thing she did held the younger woman’s attention. From training to relaxing by the fire. She tried so very hard to mask it, because she was well aware of how stalkerish it made her seem, but it was very hard not to. Everything about Carmen was fascinating.

Griff was man enough to admit that she probably had a little more than just a crush on Carmen.


	6. Family

That’s what they were after all, a family.

And it wasn’t something that gradually happened either, it just sorta….happened all at once.

Carmen saved Griff.

Along the way they came across Tod.

Not long after, Griff found Vi.

Regardless of what they had lost along the way, or what they had lost not knowing it at the time, they all had each other. They got along well; they pulled pranks, played around, comforted, encouraged, and generally supported one another. Of course they bickered, fought, argued, and made up like families do, but that pretty much went without saying.

They were only human.

It’s the one thing that separated them from the zombies.

 

Eventually when they made it to the Midwest and found out that Griff’s family was alive, they were all adopted on the spot, no questions asked. 

They realized pretty quickly that being related to a bunch of rednecks, during the zombie apocalypse, was not a bad thing in the least.


	7. Gentle

It always amazed her at how gentle that pixie of a woman was.

She was kind of spastic, jumped around a lot, and was slightly abrasive at times.

It caught her off guard more than anything, because of how loud of a personality Griff had. When it came to touching of any kind, it was almost completely unlike Griff. When she moved behind you, she would barely brush your arm or your waist with her hand, letting you know that she was there. If she was checking for cuts or scrapes, her hands would slide along your skin carefully, as if she were afraid she was going to break you. When she was bandaging something, she’d barely use enough pressure to tighten it. If you weren’t feeling exactly up to par, or if it was just one of those days, her fingers would whisper over your forehead, or the side of your face, offering whatever comfort she could.

 

Needless to say, it sent chills up Carmen’s spine and she may or may not enjoy it a little more than she would care to let on.


	8. Horsemanship

Out of all of the skills that one could possess at the end of the world, out of ALL the survival skills – if you could even call it that - this one was the one that everyone overlooked. 

And out of all of them, this was one of the ones that Griff had, and excelled at.

 

Walking around everywhere they went had the tendency to get quite boring after a while, despite the interesting things they either came across or came up with along the way. There were plenty of vehicles to choose from, but that in itself was a hassle; you were inevitably driving from gas station to gas station, or vehicle to vehicle, and siphoning the nasty stuff out of either a pump or an abandoned vehicle was a pain in the ass. Maneuvering around all of the traffic jams and whatnot was a pain as well.

Plus, they couldn’t afford the possibility of breaking down in the middle of a zombie infested place.

So when they happened to come across an abandoned farm, and Griff saw the large barn in the back, she was ecstatic. She bolted for it immediately, leaving her companions to curse and groan in despair, but regardless they followed. The shrill squeal that reached their ears was cause for a little concern, but they were soon to find out why as soon as they entered the barn.

Vi squealed too.

Tod scratched his head and shuffled nervously.

Carmen smiled quietly to herself and shook her head slightly, watching Griff intently.

 

They were in a very nice, though obviously neglected, horse barn. It wasn’t meant for a great number of the animals; six to be in fact. All six of the stable doors were busted or hanging off of their hinges, the six horses in question all gathered around Griff. They looked well enough, though it was obvious that they had been without owners for a while. The hay stacked up on the far side of the wall was in slight disarray, the lid had been knocked off of the oat barrel, and their water trough was almost empty. The big double doors to the barn were standing wide open, but the horses hadn’t ventured out just yet. Or if they did, they chose to come back to the place they knew as home.

All in all, they were in good health. 

And extremely happy to be around people once more.

 

Griff giggled happily as she stroked muzzles and pat flanks, the creatures whinnying softly and butting her gently with their noses. When they noticed the new comers they ventured towards them as well, Vi automatically showing them affection while both Tod and Carmen stood stock still.

“It’s alright guys, they’re not gonna bite you.” Griff said with a soft smile, trying so hard not to squeal and squirm all over the place in her little ‘happy jig’. Vi had given in to that urge for her.

Tod laughed nervously, glaring at a particularly ornery gelding that nudged him in the back, then proceeded to nip his shirt sleeve. He coughed slightly and tentatively reached a hand out to pat the side of his neck. “Good horsey, niiiiiiiice horsey...” The horse responded by snorting on his arm and flicking his tail.

Carmen shifted from one foot to the other, chewing on her bottom lip, her brow creased slightly. A mare had taken an interest in her, the animal whinnying softly as she nosed the nervous woman softly. She hesitantly reached a hand towards the fuzzy muzzle, flinching slightly when the horse set her nose into the outstretched appendage and exhaled.

Before she could back away entirely Griff was there, her arm around Carmen’s waist and her hand clasped in the shorter woman’s. “It’s alright, she’s just curious.” Griff slowly raised their joined hands back to the horses muzzle, petting it softly before venturing up the animals nose, stroking the white blaze beneath their fingertips. After a while Griff noticed the small smile on Carmen’s face, the woman’s fingers moving on their own now. Griff chuckled, noticing the mare’s eyelids start to droop slightly. “She likes that.”

Carmen laughed aloud, the mare nudging her arm before she started to scrub it with her upper lip. “What in the world is she doing?! That tickles.”

Griff smiled against Carmen’s shoulder and softly placed a kiss to the back of her neck, moving to stand beside the mare and pat her on the side. “She is showing you some love. I think you’ve found your match hun, she really likes you.” She clapped her hands lightly and looked around the interior of the barn, spying what she was looking for opposite of the hay bales. “Alright you lot, we can’t stay here long. Maker knows what else is on this farm.”

“And leave these lovely things behind?!” Vi said mournfully.

“We don’t need any more pets.” Tod said dully, the same gelding trying to eat chunks out of his shirt.

“Oh we’re not leaving them. I don’t know about you all, but I’m tired of walking around.”

“………………no.”

“Oh yes. And think! We won’t have to carry anything; we can strap it all on the backs of a couple of them.”

“Griff, sweetheart….” Carmen said tentatively, her mare still nosing her. While she had warmed up to her, she was still pretty unsure around the big animals. “While I like this idea, I really don’t…….”

“It’ll be fun! Alright, saddle up crew, we’ve gotta go.” Vi partially knew what she was doing, but both Tod and Carmen stared at her blankly. “Lesson number one: The Art of Saddling Equine.”

Both Griff and Vi helped to explain about the various tack one would put on their horse, each of them saddling one horse apiece before helping the two to saddle two more horses, then letting them gear up the last two by themselves. All in all they did a good job, though it would need some fine tuning. But that would happen over an extended period of time; right now they were just getting good enough to head out. They strapped their meager belongings on two of the horses, leaving four of them unladen and rearing to go. 

The horses were excited, as were Vi and Griff. Tod and Carmen though, not so much.

“Shorty I don’t know how to tell you this, buuuuut….”

“Me neither.” 

“It’s ok, a lot of people have never been on a horse. Vi, are you gonna be good if Tod rides with you? I know you haven’t done this for a while.”

Vi pulled herself up on the back of a young gelding, the horse tossing his head impatiently. “Yeah I think so.”

Griff nodded and grinned. “Great! Tod, up you get. Carmen, do you think you could…?”

“Not a problem.”

Tod stood there with his hands on his hips for a moment, staring blankly at the saddle and the horses rear. Griff held the reins in one hand, the other holding the stirrup steady. “Here goes nothin’.” Tod put his foot in the stirrup and pulled himself up awkwardly, draping himself across the back instead of sitting in the empty spot behind Vi. He tried to move himself, but found he was wedged between the saddle and Vi’s back. “This…….this is as good as it’s gonna get.”

They all laughed helplessly, Carmen finding some rope to help strap him down. “Alright, but I promise you you’re going to be feeling that later. We’ll stop after a while and see if we can get you on properly.”

Griff led Carmen to the mare that had taken to the brunette, the animal nosing her gently. Griff squeezed Carmen’s hand gently before bending to hold the stirrup out. “Grab on to the saddle horn, put your left foot in this stirrup, stand up, and swing your right leg over.”

Carmen eyed the animal in front of her warily, unsure of this whole business once more. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, before she nodded and hesitantly did as she was told. She felt Griff’s hand on the back of her thigh as she swung herself into the saddle, her hands holding onto the saddle horn for dear life. Now that she was up there and settled, she began to feel like this was a bad idea all along.

“You good?”

“Do you really want me to answer that?”

Griff smiled and swung herself up onto the horses back, settling herself in front of Carmen. It was going to be an uncomfortable ride, but the saddle was necessary, especially for Carmen. Griff took the reins into her hands, smiling as Carmen’s arms wrapped tightly around her waist. The blonde put her hand on top of the brunette’s, nodding slightly to Vi as the four of them and the four remaining horses trotted out of the barn and into the simmering Texas day, Tod grumbling and groaning about the bumpy ride.

 

Carmen was more than a little impressed, and found herself in awe of this pixie of a woman.

 _Her_ pixie of a woman.

Of all the things Griff could be capable of, this was the one thing she hadn’t thought of.

In a way, Griff was the one that saved her this time around.


	9. Imagination

They had to do something to pass the time; walking and scanning around for the undead every thirty seconds would drive you completely batshit insane if you let it. And that’s one of the major things a bod had to do in times like this; keep your mind sane.

Well, sane _ish_.

Because if you let the horrors of reality get to you, chances are you wouldn’t make it far.

 

They all found out one day, while each of them had an outstanding imagination alone, their combined fantasies was GLORIOUS.

So that’s what they did.

They made shit up as they went along.

One minute they’d be crawling through an exotic jungle, the next they were trudging across a desert looking for the next oasis.

Sometimes they would act out scenes from their favorite movies.

Other times, they would make stuff up on the fly.

It was great fun, especially for the kids. And Griff.

 

Most of the time though, Griff was the valiant Knight coming to save her damsels in distress from the vicious bandits.

Tod was the biggest damsel of them all. Especially when the girls had found this silly, frilly pink dress and talked him into wearing it.

 

Carmen suspected that this was mainly Griff’s way of coping. That pretending the zombies they came across were something other than people, at one point in time anyway. 

And that’s why she played along; because it benefit them all in the long run, plus it was easier for her to cope with it as well.


	10. Jealousy

When they finally reached Griff’s home state, and made their way to her family’s farm, Carmen was very excited for her. While she knew that the younger woman had told herself to not get her hopes up at the aspect of everyone still being alive, Carmen wasn’t fooled.

She knew how the blonde had felt, even if she hid it well, and couldn’t help the sinking feeling in her gut the closer they got to the farm.

If she were to be honest with herself, she actually wasn’t surprised that they were all still alive. From how Griff talked about them, they sounded like the type that would survive a nuclear bombing. They, along with the neighbors and everyone else that lived in that small farming community, had pulled together and built a wall around the entire area. Leave it to the rednecks to quarantine off their farmland, maintain a small general store with a cooling system that they jerry-rigged, and go about their lives like nothing was wrong. They even had contact with a few other small communities not far away.

 

However she was surprised when they found out _she_ was alive.

KC.

Griff’s best friend and high school sweetheart, of sorts. They had been somewhat of an item, unofficially. KC knew that Griff had wanted to go to college to get her degree in Biology, and didn’t want to hold her back. So, she promised Griff that after she had finished school, gotten her degree, and came back home, they would make it official.

Griff told Carmen all of that not too long after they had met. She figured the girl was more than likely dead, and didn’t really give her a second thought; she and Griff were an item now anyway.

But now they were home, and KC was there, and the looks they were giving each other was making Carmen’s gut clench and turn unpleasantly….

The pleasant time that they’d all been having with Griff’s parents and grandparents came to a shuddering halt, for Carmen anyway, when Griff and KC went off towards the barn together, the blonde not even giving Carmen a second glance.

Carmen felt her gut clench again, and to her horror her eyes began to sting. She grit her teeth and scrubbed her eyes furiously, more angry with herself than anything. At least, that’s what she was trying to convince herself. She shrugged out of it after a moment, throwing her ‘I’m a badass and I don’t need anyone’ front up again. Things like feelings were useless anyway; all they were good for was bringing you down and kicking you in the face for good measure. She didn’t care, it’s not like Griff belonged to her or something. If anything, she was happy for the pixie. Really, KC had been in the picture first.

Totally.

 

Movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and she looked up in time to see Griff and KC returning, the brunette’s eyebrows raising in surprise on their own. The two hadn’t even been gone for ten minutes. Griff was making a beeline towards her, KC trudging off in the opposite direction, her face downcast and gloomy.

The moment Griff sat down next to her she could have yelled aloud in joy, but opted to feign indifference instead. There was no point in hoping for the best after all, especially when she was basing the thoughts swirling in her head off of nothing more than assumptions. Her resolve crumbled slightly when Griff linked their arms together and put her hand on Carmen’s knee, squeezing slightly.

“Everything ok?” Carmen chanced a look at the woman beside her, seeing the confusion in her eyes, that slight crease in her brow causing her ego to soar in triumph. She merely nodded her head, smiling ever so slightly; she couldn’t bring herself to meet her eyes though, because if she did then everything would surface and Carmen wouldn’t be able to deny a thing anymore. Griff squeezed slightly again and pressed her lips to the brunette’s shoulder, leaving it be for now.

 

That night, that damning pixie coaxed it out of her. She crooned at the blush on Carmen’s face, and thought the fact that she had been completely and utterly jealous was adorable.

And a little heart-breaking, because Griff wouldn’t do a thing to hurt her at all, so really it came back to Griff almost breaking down in tears.

Before that could happen though, Carmen showed her just how jealous she really had been.

The horses and cows weren’t the only things filling the barn with their noises that night.


End file.
